K Srikanth

Born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Kidmabi Srikanth burst on to the scene when he won silver at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games in Isle of Man. The 23-year-old has gone from strength to strength, becoming only the third Indian male player to enter the top 5 in world badminton rankings after Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand. Not only this, he achieved the feat in grand style when he handed two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan a defeat in China Open that he went on to win in 2014. Srikanth’s fortunes changed when in 2009 joined Pullela Gopichand’s badminton academy in Hyderabad. The former All-England champion advised Srikanth to concentrate only on singles and that has worked like a charm for the badminton star. In 2015, Srikanth became the first Indian male to win gold at the 2015 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and followed it up with another stupendous performance when he clinched the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships Grand Prix Gold title in January next year. Ranked 13 at present, Srikanth has his set sights on gold at Rio but that’s not all that he wants. “Winning an Olympic medal is every athlete’s dream, mine too,” he says. “But my biggest goal as a player is to be the best player in the world—World No 1. Winning the Olympic gold medal in Rio, ranked No 1 in the world would be great.”